May 25 – I began my Memorial Day weekend with a long run on the National Mall. The sun had just come up and as I looked at the Vietnam Memorial, there was a man standing against the wall etching a name onto a piece of paper. That was his way of paying tribute to that brave American: that soldier, sailor, airman or marine that gave his life in Vietnam for his fellow man.

The scripture says, ‘No greater love hath any man than to lay down his life for a friend.’ Our nation’s military has always gone beyond that scriptural exhortation by laying their life down for people they may never meet, see, or know, but deeply love and care for. This is a time for us to reflect and pay tribute to so many brave Americans who have stood between the threat and our civilian population.

Let us all gather together and pay tribute to these greatest American heroes who have laid their life down so we can continue to live in a free country and a great nation. And let us reflect on those sacrifices and love their families: those gold star mothers and so many others that have lost loved ones for our country’s good.

This year I will speak in the Chattanooga National Cemetery to our veterans gathered there. We pay tribute to them all, but on Memorial Day, we pay special tribute to those who did not come home.